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It was one big performance after the other in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup as one team ended its losing streak and another squad put the brakes on its opponent’s winning run.
Justin Brownlee had two key plays in the stretch as defending champion Barangay Ginebra ended NorthPort’s winning start to the conference with a pulsating 73-70 victory over Saturday night at Mall of Asia Arena.
Brownlee finished with 32 points, none bigger than the triple that broke the final deadlock and iced the final count. He also had a steal on the other end to limit the Batang Pier’s chances of turning the game around and helped seal the Gin Kings’ second victory in three games.
“It certainly wasn’t pretty,” coach Tim Cone said. “We were turnover-prone tonight. The zone really bothered us, gave us a hard time finding high-percentage shot.”
NorthPort’s zone was so disruptive, the Batang Pier managed to stay in contention until the end despite a poor performance by import Prince Ibeh, who managed just eight points.
“That was an ugly one, but we’ll take it,” Cone said.
NorthPort absorbed its first loss in four outings.
Meanwhile, in the earlier game, CJ Perez came through with a performance that underscored his label as a favorite in the Rookie of the Year race as he led Columbian to a 120-105 shredding of NLEX.
Perez had 39 points on a 16-for-21 clip, a performance he adorned with nine rebounds, three steals and three assists to lead the Dyip to their first win after three straight losses.
Meanwhile, Meralco Bolts coach Norman Black said the team is ready to move on from the sudden transfer of veteran forward Jared Dillinger to Barangay Ginebra.
“Life goes on,” Black said on Friday night. “[There are] so many players out there. We’ll just develop the next guy. [G]uys get older. They move on. We move on.”
Dillinger surprised the Meralco camp when he signed up with Barangay Ginebra despite what Black termed as a “gentleman’s agreement” that the veteran forward would stay put.
Meralco earlier dropped Dillinger to the unrestricted free agents list to make way for newly acquired Raymond Almazan.